A rebel fighter surveys destruction in the Salaheddin district of Aleppo. Photograph: Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images

4.13pm BST

Summary

Today's main news is that international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says he has agreement from the Syrian government on a ceasefire for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha which begins on Friday.

Brahimi also says "most" of the anti-Assad fighting groups that he has been able to contact agree on "the principle" of a ceasefire.

The Syrian government has yet to confirm its agreement, and there have been widespread doubts as to whether a ceasefire can take hold or be sustained.

The rebels' Joint Military Command says it is waiting for an announcement from the Syrian government (expected tomorrow) before making its own announcement.

Jabhat al-Nusra, the jihadist group, has reportedly said it rejects a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Brahimi has briefed the UN security council and called for its support.

Other Syria-related news:

• At least 20 people are reported to have died when Syrian artillery gunners shelled a bread bakery full of workers and customers in Aleppo on Tuesday.

• Government aircraft attacked Maaret al-Numan and the village of Mar Shamsheh yesterday, as troops and rebels battled over a nearby Syrian military camp that has been under siege for days, AP reports citing the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rebels 'awaiting regime announcement' on truce

The opposition Joint Military Command says it is waiting for the Syrian government's announcement before making its own decision regarding a ceasefire.

Zaid Benjamin of Radio Sawa interviewed JMC spokesman Fahd al-Misri in Arabic (audio here). Our colleague Mona Mahmood has been listening to it and picked out these quotes:

Up till now the Syrian regime did not declare its position explicitly. We, the joint command, are waiting for a declared explicit position by the Syrian regime and after that we will take our decision regarding the truce.

We confirm if the truce happened it won't mean lifting the siege on areas where the regime's forces are surrounded or risking the lives of the Syrian people and we won't allow the regime to catch its breath and commit more massacres after the truce.

We also confirm that we won't accept any regional settlement that allow Bashar to stay in power, yet, any truce or negotiations should be conditioned with Bashar's and his gangs departure.

We hope there will be no trick by Bashar [al-Assad] or a regional power behind the truce proposal.

There is no retreat in our positions but we want to protect the lives of the Syrian people.

Militia fighters 'capture centre of Bani Walid'

Libyan pro-government militiamen have now captured the centre of Bani Walid, AP reports.

An Associated Press reporter at the centre of Bani Walid, some 140km southeast of Tripoli, saw fighters firing their weapons into the air in celebration on Wednesday.

Columns of smoke billowed into the sky near the airport outside, where clashes are still ongoing despite official statements that the government is in full control.

Meanwhile, Egypt's interior minister says security forces have intercepted a group of smugglers bringing in weapons from Libya.

General Ahmed Gamal Eddin told reporters today that two trucks carrying 25 rockets, 102 rocket-propelled grenades and 102 mortar rounds were seized on the highway near Marsa Matrouh, 430km northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast. He did not state the number arrested or their nationalities.

Updated at 2.08pm BST

1.54pm BST

Life and death in Bani Walid, LIbya

Amid worrying news reports from Bani Walid in Libya, our colleague Mona Mahmood has been talking to Abd al-Nasser Alim, a resident in the city.

What is happening in Bani Walid is beyond the imagination. It is a tragedy. The so-called Libyan army, which are in reality a bunch of thugs, are behaving like locusts. They are attacking everything in their way.

This Misrata army are stationed at the entrances of Beni Walid and using all sorts of weapons, tanks, rockets and gases against the people.

They keep shooting the city for 10 hours at random and then have a few troops on the ground and some others in small vans trying to infiltrate, but the men of Beni Walid who are hiding in houses open fire and push them back.

Till now these thugs could not get inside the town owing to the fierce resistance by the people of Bani Walid. Before, we had Gaddafi's army. Now we have armed militias killing women and children. They have been surrounding the city for 20 days but within the last five days they got crazy and have made our lives here a real hell.

There is no safe place to hide in Bani Walid. I was in opposition to Gaddafi and was imprisoned in Abu Salim prison for a long time, but I regret every moment I opposed Gaddafi after what I have seen here.

These armed militias are so barbarian, they are committing crimes against humanity and no one is recognising that. There is a complete blackout on what is going on here. All the shelling against the city is random, bodies are in the streets for both sides and others are still under rubble – no one can help as they will be shelled too.

There is only one hospital in the whole of Bani Walid, where more than 100,000 people live. It is already in an appalling situation and lacks most of the basic medical stuff. Water and power are cut but people have stored food at home.

Some of the families started to flee to escape the shelling. More than 50,000 people left but the route outside the city is a rocky and desert one and really hard to go through with children. Other families decided to stay for fear of robbery. People are worried to leave their houses and come back to find everything is stolen.

I left during the liberation war but when I came back I found my car was stolen. This time I am staying and will die in my home. We call upon the humanitarian society to come and help us as the city is entirely sealed off and even fleeing is not safe.

This is an act of revenge and racism. People have decided to defend their homes and honour with the arms they have and I can assure you if the situation continues like that, Libya will slip to a civil war eventually.

They are destroying an entire city but people will not keep silent, there are more than 53 tribes in Bani Walid and they have decided to die for their land.

Updated at 2.44pm BST

12.59pm BST

Summary

Today's main news is that international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says he has agreement from the Syrian government on a ceasefire for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha which begins on Friday.

Brahimi also says "most" of the anti-Assad fighting groups that he has been able to contact agree on "the principle" of a ceasefire.

The Syrian government has yet to confirm its agreement, and there have been widespread doubts as to whether a ceasefire can take hold or be sustained.

Other Syria-related news:

• At least 20 people are reported to have died when Syrian artillery gunners shelled a bread bakery full of workers and customers in Aleppo on Tuesday.

• Government aircraft attacked Maaret al-Numan and the village of Mar Shamsheh yesterday, as troops and rebels battled over a nearby Syrian military camp that has been under siege for days, AP reports citing the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Concern over move to deport Syrian

Amnesty International is "deeply alarmed" at an attempt by the UK Border Agency to forcibly return a Syrian activist to Damascus.

"The planned removal was due to take place on 21 October, but was prevented in the high court, due in part to Amnesty’s intervention in the case," Amnesty says in a statement issued today.

Amnesty provided information about the current human rights crisis in Syria and expressed grave concerns about conditions in the country and fears for the safety of the individual if returned.

As far as Amnesty is aware, no other EU countries are currently returning Syrian asylum seekers to Syria.

Amnesty told the court that people who oppose or are perceived to oppose the government are at risk of persecution or serious harm by the authorities if returned to Syria.

Updated at 2.45pm BST

12.21pm BST

A 'last chance' for Syria?

A ceasefire in Syria, if it happens, must be welcome even for three days to stem the bloodshed and perhaps provide a platform to exit this crisis, says Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding.

However, this remains distant, as there is no final decision by the regime and it may well be banking on its opponents rejecting a deal, just to gain positive PR for Assad.

If there is a genuine prospect that a ceasefire will hold then the international community must act to shore it up with a much larger monitoring force than in the past, local ceasefire deals and a resolute consensus by Syrian, regional and international actors not to undermine it.

It should be reinforced by full humanitarian access and release of prisoners. This may be the last chance to preserve what is left of Syria as we know it.

12.02pm BST

Reactions to Syria ceasefire plan

More on the proposed ceasefire, from the Associated Press:

Brahimi [the international envoy] didn't elaborate on how such a truce would be monitored. The envoy has met with Assad in Damascus on Sunday as part of his push for a ceasefire between rebels and government forces.

He also held talks last week with opposition groups inside and outside Syria and earlier received "promises" but not a "commitment" from them to honour the ceasefire.

In Damascus, foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi stressed Wednesday that the cessation of military operations during Eid al-Adha is still "being studied" by the General Command of the Army and the Syrian armed forces, and that "the final position on this matter will be issued on Thursday."

Abdelbaset Sieda, the head of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group in exile, told The Associated Press that he had little hope the truce would take hold. He said opposition fighters have told him they are willing to adhere to it, but will respond if attacked by regime forces.

"This regime, we don't trust it, because it is saying something and doing something else on the ground," Sieda said Wednesday in a phone interview from Stockholm, Sweden.

Brahimi's proposal is far more modest than a six-point plan by his predecessor as Syrian envoy, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. A ceasefire was the centerpiece of Annan's proposal and was to lead to talks on a peaceful transition.

However, a truce never took hold and both sides violated their commitments, though Annan said at the time the regime was the main aggressor because it refused to withdraw troops and heavy weapons from population centers.

11.42am BST

'Thousands flee Bani Walid' in Libya

In a report for the Libya Herald, George Grant describes the mass exodus from Bani Walid as a result of fighting there:

Relief workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross estimated yesterday that as many as 5,000 families, or some 25,000 people, had fled Bani Walid into the urban area alone, with the total figure believed to be much higher.

The Bani Walid Crisis Management Centre has claimed that almost 10,000 families have fled in total. It is estimated that Bani Walid and its environs are home to around 80,000 people.

Refugees are fleeing the town in every direction, with thousands known to have headed to Tarhouna with more passing on to other towns including Tripoli.

Few if any native residents are taking the main roads out of the Bani Walid, preferring instead to take the hazardous desert tracks in attempt to evade security forces who have a list of some 1,000 names wanted for arrest.

Updated at 11.46am BST

10.35am BST

Syrian regime 'agrees to ceasefire'

International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi reportedly says the Syrian government has agreed to a ceasefire, Reuters reports.

"After the visit I made to Damascus, there is agreement from the Syrian government for a ceasefire during the Eid," Brahimi told a news conference at the Cairo-based Arab League.

Reuters adds:

He did not give a precise time period for the ceasefire but said Damascus would announce its agreement on Wednesday or Thursday. "Other factions in Syria that we were able to contact, heads of fighting groups, most of them also agree on the principle of the ceasefire," he added ...

"If this humble initiative succeeds, we hope that we can build on it in order to discuss a longer and more effective ceasefire and this has to be part of a comprehensive political process," Brahimi said.

Tim Marshall of Sky News introduces a note of scepticism. Brahimi said the Syrian government would announce its "agreement" to a ceasefire. The Syrian government seems to be saying it will announce its "decision" on a ceasefire:

Tim Marshall (@Skytwitius)

Syrian government says final decision on Eid ceasefire to be given on Thursday. Which is not quite what Brahimi said....

Brahimi pushing 'extremely hard' for ceasefire

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is pushing "extremely hard" for a ceasefire in Syria, al-Jazeera reports citing a UN spokesperson.

Brahimi is currently in Cairo where he will have talks with Nabil al-Arabi, secretary-general of the Arab League. Later today, he is also due to brief the UN security council in New York by a video link.

10.11am BST

Village airstrike 'kills five'

Activists say Syrian warplanes have struck a village near a strategic rebel-held town in the country's north, killing five members of an extended family, AP reports.

Syria's housing turmoil

Aside from the fighting in Syria, the large number of people losing their homes not only adds to the general suffering but is creating new problems for the future, Hassan Hassan writes in an article for Comment is free.

Forty-six per cent of Syria's buildings are illegally constructed, according to a government study in 2007 – and this includes the homes in which more than half the population live. The problem was mostly seen around the large cities but, amid a widening gap between rich and poor, the authorities generally turned a blind eye to it.

Particularly since this summer, though, they have been bulldozing illegal buildings – but only in restive areas. In other areas, the authorities have been selective in their demolition orders. The campaign against illegal construction is thus being used to send a message: if you rebel against the regime, you will no longer enjoy the favours bestowed by it.

A further complication is that officials also accept hefty bribes from internally displaced people to allow them to use abandoned or partly demolished buildings. Additionally, the regime's militias and rank-and-file officers are raiding houses, ransacking and then fraudulently selling or leasing them.

9.35am BST

Tunisia: Ennahda's first year

The first anniversary of the election that brought an Islamist-led coalition to power in Tunisia has prompted several reflective articles.

On al-Jazeera's website, Yasmin Ryan writes of widespread disillusionment among the public. A year after the election, the coalition faces a much more organised opposition than it did in 2011, she says.

In a column for Now Lebanon, Hussein Ibish says the Ennahda party should be celebrating a year in power but instead "is reeling from a series of powerful blows to its credibility, its appeal to the broader public and its mandate to govern, even in coalition with its troika partners".

Ennahda's narrative and strategy for achieving national dominance are in dire straits. Two weeks ago, its leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, ignited a firestorm of public outrage when he was videoed telling a group of hard-line salafists to be patient while Ennahda fended off any "comeback" from secularists and worked to secure Islamist control of the police and army ...

This isn't the beginning of the end for Tunisia's Islamists, but it is the end of the beginning. It's going to be very difficult for Ennahda, or any Islamist party, to achieve the level of dominance or influence the party acquired exactly one year ago. Ennahda may well have squandered its best opportunity to secure control of Tunisia.

8.53am BST

Summary

Welcome to Middle East live. Here is a summary of the latest developments.

Syria

•At least 20 people are reported to have died when Syrian artillery gunners shelled a bread bakery full of workers and customers in Aleppo on Tuesday.

The New York Times says the shelling cast further doubt on the already dim prospects for a temporary ceasefire which the newly appointed peace envoy from the United Nations and the Arab League, Lakhdar Brahimi, has been trying to negotiate for the past week.

The activist group reported more than two dozen casualties among the rebels, but did not have the breakdown of killed and wounded.

Opposition fighters seized Maaret al-Numan, which lies along the main highway between Aleppo and Damascus, earlier this month. Their presence has disrupted the regime's ability to send supplies and reinforcements to the northwest. This has hampered the government's fight in Aleppo, where troops are bogged down in a bloody fight for control of the country's largest city.

Russia's military has learned "that militants fighting Syrian government forces have portable missile launchers of various states, including American-made Stingers," Interfax quoted general staff chief Nikolai Makarov as saying. "Who supplied them must still be determined," he said.

Reuters notes there were reports in late July that the rebel Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, also known as Manpads, though a political adviser to the FSA denied it.

Lebanon

•Syria's powerful Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, has rejected calls to refer the investigation of Hassan's killing to the international tribunal that implicated Hezbollah figures in the bombing that killed former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, AP reports.

Gaza

Qatar, whose per-capita income is now the highest in the world, is in effect using its enormous oil and gas riches and close ties to Islamist organisations to expand its regional influence in the wake of its involvement in the uprisings against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Bashar al-Assad in Syria ...

Observers in the region also see the visit in part as a reward to Hamas for ending its support for Assad. Until a few months ago, the movement's exiled leadership was based in Damascus, helping bolster Syria's credentials as a key member of the "axis of resistance" confronting Israel, along with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Libya

A military spokesman, Gen Ali al-Shekhili, said there is still some resistance, but the pro-government forces have made significant advances toward the center of the town. Large numbers of residents have fled over the past few days, he said.